American musical group and artists' collective

World Imitation Productions

Intro
American musical group and artists' collective
Music

World Imitation Productions (WImP) was an interdisciplinary art and music collective active during the early years of punk in Los Angeles, California, through the late 1970s and early 1980s (c. 1977–1982).

Their work involved the creation of xeroxed zines (a series of collage-based booklets sold at punk and record shops locally and internationally), art exhibitions, happenings, staged events, and mail art exchanged with other contemporary artists.

The WImP collective was known "most famously (as) the legendary music group Monitor. They also wrote, performed, recorded, and released music under the band name The Tikis.

The core members of WImP and Monitor were Steve Thomsen, Michael Uhlenkott, Laurie O’Connell, Jeffrey Rankin, Anne Connor, and Keith Mitchell. When performing as Monitor, Steve Thomsen played synthesizer and keyboards; Michael Uhlenkott played guitar and provided vocals; Laurie O'Connell provided vocals and played bass, and Jeffrey Rankin originally played drums, succeeded after the first 45 by Keith Mitchell who, in his later work with other bands, became known as "the Buddy Rich of punk".) Peripherally, artist Jeffrey Vallance and Boyd Rice, of the industrial band NON, with Robert Turman, were occasional contributors.